Full of It.

It is a simple truth we all are familiar with.  If you are not busy living, you are busy dying.  Every January, memberships in local gyms almost quadruple, only to see a drastic decline by March.  We've all done it (probably).  We work out for a few weeks, begin to see some changes in our quality of life and physique, only to see it all go away the second we take a "break."  Life almost seems to afford no breaks.  If we stop breathing...we die.

Essential to the biblical worldview is the denial of a neutral ground.  Modern (and Post-modern) man hates the sound of this tune - as his fabrication of neutrality affords him life without responsibility and accountability.  He is a "blank slate" you see...and must approach the "idea" of divinity with an open mind.  To him, there are many gods (or not); and it would be irresponsible not to give them all an equal look.  Once gaining enough evidence to be reasonably convinced, he will decide which god is worthy of trust and belief - or, if the concept should be rejected altogether.

John Locke (an empiricist from Britain...not from LOST!) may still influence the air our world breaths, but as Christians, we have long stopped breathing - we are dead to this world.   We breath the fresh air of Scripture, which, with profound clarity and authority, states that there is no such neutral ground.  Man, by his very nature, is a worshipper.  He either worships (through joyful glorification) the God who created him; or he worships the creature/creation.  It is impossible not to worship.

Again, there is no neutral (non-worshipping) ground.  Man is not created as a "blank slate," but as the very image of God - endowed with knowledge, righteousness and holiness.  Man doesn't need to gain more facts to make a decision about God, he needs God to understand and make right decisions regarding facts!  As St. Augustine said, "We must believe in order to understand, not understand in order to believe."

Just as human is born male or female, so is he born a worshiper of the Triune God.  If he does not, he lives contrary to nature (which is the height of unrighteousness), and thus dies.

So, as we live, we live unto God.  Sundays will not do as the only times we set aside for the worship of God.  Christ is the Lord of our life - all of it.  I love this quote from Lovelace:

One of the first effects of spiritual decline among the people of God is destructive enculturation, saturation with the godless culture of the surrounding world as we saw in Judges 2:11-13.  When men's hearts are not full of God, they become full of the world around like a sponge full of clear water that has been squeezed empty and thrown into a mud puddle.  Only the fullness of Christ's life and the transformation of our minds by the renewing action of the Holy Spirit illuminating the whole counsel of God can effectively prevent this conformity to the world (Romans 12:2).


What does all of this mean?  It simply means that if we, as a people, are living segmented lives, treating Sundays or even personal devotions as our only "God-time" (all other times being spiritually neutral), then we are like men and women who decide to eat only a few healthy meals per month.  The rest of the time we are consuming donuts at best, while fogging our minds with any narcotic we can get our hands on.  We are famished, lethargic, unreasonable, and even criminal.

It is my prayer that we all understand the truth behind Lovelace's words.  As sponges, let us be absorbing the pure water of the Word, and not the muddy puddles of the world.  Life so that the preacher who offers your eulogy will do so with deep conviction saying that we were full of God, and not that we were full of "it" - whatever that "it" might be.